Words: Caitlin Finnerty

4 stars

Desiree Burch storms the stage in The Golden Wrath like a woman on a mission, because she is. The Taskmaster favourite and voice of Netflix’s Too Hot to Handle delivers an hour that’s part stand-up, part sermon, part full-body exorcism of everything we don’t talk about enough.

46 and turning heads, Burch dives into the messy realities of middle age, menopause, and mortality, all at a breakneck 10,000 words a minute. Peri-menopause? She gives us all 66 symptoms like it’s an infomercial you actually want to watch. Comparing the experience to the Chumbawamba lyric “I get knocked down” on repeat, she mines gold from the absurdity of biology, aging, and society’s refusal to care.

It’s an educational rant, but never preachy. Burch balances laugh-out-loud lines with raw sincerity, especially when touching on her mother’s dementia and the intergenerational failures of women’s healthcare. She’s brutally honest, delightfully mean, and powerfully necessary.

This isn’t just a comedy show, it’s a wake-up call wrapped in wit and delivered with unwavering energy. We deserve better, and Burch is here to say so, loudly and boldly.

Desiree Burch: The Golden Wrath 
Monkey Barrel 3 at Monkey Barrel Comedy
17:40
Aug 5-10